YouTube families going on crazy adventures every other day making you picture the bank account of those people. TikTok moms videotaping their kids unwrapping gifts and decorating their beige Christmas trees with ornaments that fit their Pinterest-worthy aesthetic. Likes skyrocketing on a Facebook post of the favorite child’s birthday. What’s not to love? Maybe the same motherly media stars punting their spawn into situations they never asked for, recording their child’s punishment, and publically making their kids look like idiots or delinquents, downright abusing them, all for likes and views.
Everyone who’s been on the internet has come across family vlogging at some point-either on their own page, someone arguing about it, or a parody. Some people argue that family vlogs are a harmless way for families to pursue the universal dream of being a star. However, the fact is that children that grow up on a family vlog end up with many more problems than those that never show their face on social media.
Many former vlog kids claim that being brought up by their parents “ruined their life,” and it is not hard to see why they think that. Parents on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook all exploit and abuse their children for views, completely disregarding their feelings and their future, sapping out every last penny they can get at their kids’ expense.
The vast majority of family vloggers make videos of their children purely for profit. Some vlog parents claim that their kids ask to be in the videos, but regardless of whether they do or don’t, they don’t get much of a choice. They believe that because it’s their children, they have the right to post them online. Many parents even have children for the sake of making more content, and by extension, more money. Oftentimes when you see family vloggers, they have a much greater amount of children than you could imagine, which makes you wonder how they can afford food and clothing for the kids, much less actually parenting them.
The horrifying thing is, a lot of the time they don’t actually give them the care that is required of parents for their children’s growth and development. Outside of what the camera shows, these parents tend to neglect or even abuse their own children. One of the most prominent cases of this is van life or tiny home-owning parents cramming more than eight kids into a tiny place that is barely suitable for two.
That doesn’t even touch on the abuse that stems from the videos themselves. These parental posers film their kids taking punishment and explaining why they deserve it, joking about them in very inappropriate ways, and even filming them crying over dead pets. Beyond this, even the happy moments getting filmed can be detrimental to the children’s mental health. No birthday party, family adventure, vacation, or high school graduation is safe from the flashing cameras.
Another valid point to make is how these children are perceived when they grow older. Ex-vlog kids find it much more difficult to get jobs because of their background, as well as the very unprofessional videos their parents posted. And no, the children won’t profit from the videos, as the money from it is withheld from them by their parents. It is completely okay for parents to be excited about these events and want to take pictures, and maybe even show their friends if the
kids themselves consent to it, but it shouldn’t be posted for the world to see. Kids are kids, not content.
